


Strays

by BairnSidhe



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Space Puppy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-24 02:40:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7489986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BairnSidhe/pseuds/BairnSidhe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a stray dog appears on the Enterprise, this was not how Jim thought it would end.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strays

“Lieutenant,” Jim began and Uhura really wished she’d put some contraband alcohol into her regulation thermos.  “Can I ask a really strange question without you assuming I’m insane and reporting me to Bones?”

“Captain, if by now you don’t realize I start every conversation with you by assuming you’re insane, then with all due respect, you haven’t been paying attention.”

“That… is a very fair point.  Anyway, did you see a dog in the corridor on this floor?”

“Pets are against regulations, Captain.”

“But did you see one.  I won’t put anyone on probation for bringing the little guy, but I need to know if I’m seeing things.  Nobody wants a cuckoo captain.”  She gave him a look that spoke volumes of her opinion of his sanity, phantom terriers or not.

“I haven’t seen a dog.  But I did see Chekov and Sulu with some pet care supplies.  It was probably real.”

“Ok, good talk.”

<^>

“Doctor, I wish to have an examination.”

“Good Lord, make noise when you walk, you silent green blooded hobgoblin!”

“I have been seeing a small Earth mammal wandering the halls, I believe I may have contracted a hallucinatory ailment on our last planet-side mission.”

“One, that mission was a bust, no sign of life anywhere, even microscopic, two, you just saw Chekov’s dog, that’s all.  He picked her up at a space station right after the planet of nothing interesting, little pup followed him home.  I did the inoculations myself.”

“Oh.  What purpose does the… dog serve?”

“It loves unconditionally, and if you can’t see the purpose of that, you are too damn Vulcan for your own good.  Now get out.”

“Very well.”

<^>

Sooner or later, everyone on the ship had seen, met, and given belly rubs to Laika, a mutt of the highest order.  Many bets were laid on the exact breed make-up of the dog, and finally Bones ran a DNA scan.  To say the results were surprising would understate it.  Which is how Jim T. Kirk wound up across the table from what looked like a terrier mix of some kind, with empatho-translatory microphone and speaker set ups between them, made by Scotty and programmed by Uhura.

“So, can I still call you Laika, or do you have another name?”

“I had one, long ago, when my people lived freely upon my planet; it would be hard to say for you.  But I do not mind if you call me Laika.  Pavel named me after a hero who died helping you reach me, I approve of that, it is an honor to carry that kind of name.”

“Laika, why are you on my ship?”  The terrier looked at him like Uhura did sometimes when he was being dense.

“I was alone.  The very last of us.  Starving and cold.  We used to live in great masses, shelter and food provided for all.  I followed because I sensed food.  I took this form as the best way to obtain it.”

A sudden chill ran down Jim’s back.  He’d read the Old Masters, who wrote of the stars before they could reach them, Wells, Asimov, Knight.  He saw this going to a very bad place, and damnit he had _liked_ Laika, too.

“What do you eat?”

“Love.  My people sustain themselves on loving and being loved.  Your crew has fed me well.  And now that I’m corporeal, I find I like the belly rubs for the sensory experience, they are good.  Aloneness was starving me, being alone in the universe may still starve me, but I can starve happy here.”

What do you say to that?  Jim rubbed his head.  Nothing ever prepared him for the orphan of a species asking only for love and belly rubs ending up in his brig.  About to admit his loss for ideas, Spock glided in, picked Laika up and looked at Jim.

“This creature’s life is maintained by loving unconditionally.  I am told dogs have the sole purpose of loving unconditionally.  And I have some… primary source material on being alone after your people are gone.  Laika is unique in all the universe, but she is not alone.”

“That settles it, then.  Pets are still against regs, so if we have visitors, you need to hide, Laika, or look more like us for a bit.  Otherwise, business as usual.”

“Do you mean that?” the dog-alien, ok dog, it was easier, asked him.

“Half my best people are strays and mutts.  And I always wanted a dog.”

“We will be strays together then.  Unique, but not alone.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me at bairnsidhe.tumblr.com


End file.
